MR LADD PSYCHOLOGY

ROLE OF FATHERS

 From Schaffer to Emerson, the most common second attachment formed was with the
father
 This was the case on 27% of the initial sample and at 18 months 75% had formed an
attachment with their father
 The role of father has significantly developed since then and many men are more hands-on
with their children than in the 1960s.

GROSSMAN (2002)

 He carried out a longitudinal study looking at both the parents’ behaviour and its
relationship to the quality of the children’s attachment into their teens
 Quality of infant attachment with mothers but not with fathers was related to children’s
attachment in adolescents suggesting that father attachment was less important
 However the quality of the father’s play with infants have a different role in attachment one
that is more to do with play and stimulation and less to do with nurturing.

FIELD (1978)

 He filmed 4-month-old babies in face-to-face interaction with primary caregivers (mothers),

secondary caregivers (fathers), and primary caregiver fathers. Primary caregiver fathers, like
mothers, spent more time smiling, imitating and holding infants than the secondary
caregiver fathers.
 This behaviour appears to be more important in building an attachment with the infant
 It seems that fathers can be the more nurturing attachment figure. The key to the
attachment relationship is the level of the responsiveness, not the gender of the parent.

BROWN ET AL (2012)

 Investigated father involvement, paternal sensitivity, and father-child attachment security at

13 months and 3 years of age.
 Results demonstrated that involvement and sensitivity influenced father- child attachment
security at age 3.
 Involvement was a greater predictor of sure attachment when fathers were rated as less
sensitive
 The research from Brown and Field indicated that the gender of a caregiver is not crucial in
predicting attachment types/quality, rather it is the extent of the caregiver’s involvement